The home microwave oven turned 50 in 2017. Here are some tidbits you may not know about this cooking contraption—now found in more than 90 percent of American homes—gleaned from an article written by an associate professor of radiation medicine at Georgetown University and other sources:

An influenza expert at Johns Hopkins University explains how the cocktail for this year’s flu vaccine was developed

Predicting which fast-mutating influenza viruses will dominate the flu season more than six months before it happens is notoriously difficult yet the ponderous global vaccine production process demands maximum lead time. So, scientists have to take their best guess based on the available data.

In March, the WHO rolled out its recommended composition for flu vaccines in the Northern Hemisphere. (It announcedits next Southern Hemisphere recommendations six months or so later.) For northern climes, the WHO proposes a cocktail of H1N1, H3N2 and a B virus—and for those interested in a quadrivalent vaccine, a dash of B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus.

For an explanation on the process for making vaccines and related issues, Global Health Now spoke this spring to Andrew Pekosz, director of the Center for Emerging Viruses and Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.Read the rest of this entry »

As the year-end approaches keep in mind that an object will never make you happy. It might for a few minutes, maybe even days, but in the end your experiences are all you’ve got. So this year why not get your family together and do something wildly different. Ignore Black Friday. Try buying almost nothing for Christmas and you might experience the most joyous holiday season you’ve ever had. Buy nothing and experience everything.

Social Media scans are nothing new, but right now there are three specific Facebook scams that are spreading like wildfire!

For cyber criminals, what’s the easiest way to reach the most people with one scam? Facebook. With more than a billion users, Facebook has become an easy way for scammers to rip off as many people as possible at once — and in a variety of different ways.

Here’s how to spot some big scams that are making the rounds and how to protect yourself.

CATCHING THESE SUBTLE EARLY-WARNING SIGNS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Chest pain…shortness of breath…feeling faint…and/or discomfort in the arm—or even the neck, jaw or back. If you are overcome by such symptoms and perhaps even have an intense and sudden “sense of doom,” you’re likely to suspect a heart attack and rush to a hospital.

But wouldn’t it be better to get a heads-up beforehand that a heart attack is on the way?